Seahawks DL no pressure at all on Romo, One of the biggest disappointments of the season

Have to attack the interior 3 of the Cowboys OL with blitz schemes, Force them to react on the move; Lateral movement is not their strength – Also, if RB Choice gets significant snaps, you have to make him recognize and execute versus blitz; He showed some hesitation and confusion against the Seahawks

Choice a strong downhill runner with vision and decisiveness, A drive sustaining back; Does not have an explosive second gear but does have short area burst to get through cracks at the point of attack

Overall, Romo very sharp and very confident; Helped by a Seahawks defense that did not challenge him at all

EAGLES OFFENSE VS. CARDINALS DEFENSE

Eagles ran 80 offensive plays, and controlled the ball for almost 40 minutes – They had 437 total yards

Eagles 10-15 on third down conversions – They had 7 trips inside the red zone, 6 TD

Westbrook looked like a different back: He had quickness and burst, Showed the ability to plant and cut, Lateral agility and explosiveness

Eagles first drive of the game produced a TD: 6 called passes / 6 called runs, including 1 Jackson “Wildcat” formation run

Westbrook 16 and 17 yard runs on second TD drive came out of 3 WR personnel versus Cards nickel personnel

Eagles second TD drive was 4 consecutive runs: Westbrook 4-41

McNabb sacked on first Eagles attempt to take a downfield shot: Post / cross combination off play action out of straight “I”

Through 3 quarters, ending with Akers FG that made it 34-13, 15 of the Eagles 23 runs came out of 3 WR personnel – 15-91, 6.1 yds per rush, 2 TD, 8 out of 15 gained 4+ yards

For the most part, Cards defense was passive: Why against a struggling OL and a struggling QB? – It was a very poor defensive performance, They allowed the Eagles offense to find and develop some rhythm

Eagles had offensive balance with run and pass, plus the pass game was quick rhythm – 2 critical factors: Westbrook lateral explosiveness, and McNabb accuracy

REDSKINS OFFENSE VS. GIANTS DEFENSE

Redskins only had the ball for 24:16, They can’t win like that

Redskins only 4-13 on third down conversions

Portis only 11-22, Redskins can’t win like that either

Alford started at DT in place of the inactive Robbins, and Blackburn continued to start at WLB for the Giants

What stood out immediately was Giants use of S Johnson coming down late into the box as a run defender, He was not accounted for in the Redskins blocking scheme and he blew up a couple of Portis runs early in the game – Johnson set the tone

Once again, Redskins OL struggled in pass protection; It really hurt them when they tried to go play action with “max pro” and attack deeper down the field – C Rabach beaten by DT Cofield on second quarter sack, 4 man rush by Giants versus 6 man protection

Giants game planned to get an extra defender in the box versus run, More than willing to play a high percentage of single high safety with man coverage concepts on the outside

Giants excellent with their back side pursuit in the run game, A fast defense

If the Redskins cannot run the ball consistently, their offense does not work – Pass game too limited in scope to be the driving force of the offense

S Johnson a huge factor in the run game, A function of Giants willingness to single up Webster on Moss

Rookie Thomas the Giants nickel corner, He played inside over the slot – A versatile player, Used as a blitzer

Ross interception was a result of Campbell underthrowing Randle El on the post; Another designed big play opportunity off play action with “max pro”, Randle El beat Ross and S Butler was not in good position – A poor throw by Campbell

Must be aware of Phillips as a blitzer when you play the Giants, Predominantly comes when the Giants are in their dime package with 3 corners and 3 safeties – Phillips an explosive downhill player with speed and power

C Rabach and RT Jansen are weaknesses on the Redskins OL

Redskins lack explosiveness on offense, Moss can be a deep threat but he can be taken away because they lack any other viable receiving weapon – Cooley will catch a lot of balls because of the design of the pass game but he is not a TE that must be schemed for by the defense, He’s a short route runner with little explosion to his game

PATRIOTS OFFENSE VS. STEELERS DEFENSE

Patriots only 267 total yards on 64 offensive plays

Patriots only 1-13 on third down conversions

Patriots 4 trips inside the red zone, only 1 TD

First sack was on Cassel: He had Welker open on the curl route for a first down but did not pull the trigger, Instead he pulled the ball down and looked to run – Harrison strength driving LG Mankins back into Cassel, He was responsible for the sack even though Farrior and Smith split it

Bad drop by Moss on what would have been a big play for the Patriots in the first quarter, Patriots leading 7-3 at the time

Most overlooked thing about OLBs Harrison and Woodley is their pure strength, They have shown consistent ability to drive OTs back into the QB

Cassel struggled with his decision making at times, He left some open throws on the field to force some passes elsewhere, Tried to do too much

Steelers went “cover zero” behind an all out blitz on 3rd + 2 from their own 11 in the second quarter, Polamalu got in clean and drilled Cassel on his release

Polamalu may be the most explosive defensive player in the NFL, He plays so fast yet under control and with discipline

Patriots offense was solid in the first half, Made some plays both in the run game and throwing the ball, No sense that the Steelers defense was dictating the game

Moss dropped a TD at the end of the first half that could have changed the game – Then Gostkowski missed a chip shot FG

Moss has lost his explosiveness, He does not run by corners anymore

In the second half, 4 consecutive Patriots possessions ended with turnovers – Both Harrison sacks and forced fumbles came on 4 man rushes, He beat LT Light of the edge both times

Patriots had success running the ball out of the shotgun throughout the game

Polamalu interception was not really on Cassel, He needed to make a throw in the fourth quarter and tried to stick it in a tight window; The ball hit Watson in the hands, It would have been a tough catch, but I can’t fault Cassel for making the throw

Steelers made some dynamic individual plays (such as Harrison’s 2 sacks and forced fumbles), but they did not dominate the Patriots offense physically throughout the game – The individual plays made the outcome look much worse than it was

RAVENS OFFENSE VS. BENGALS DEFENSE

Ravens ran 75 offensive plays, and controlled the ball for almost 39 minutes

Ravens 451 total yards – They were 8-17 on third down conversions

Ravens started the game with McClain the “I” back and Neal the FB

One thing that continues to stand out is Flacco moves better and throws the ball better on the run than initially thought

McClain very strong downhill, A pile mover who always falls forward, His feet are a little quicker than you would think given his size and squat build, Showed some lateral agility with the ability to redirect – A churning runner

Clayton 45 yards on 3rd + 7 was a great throw by Flacco over the outside shoulder, Can’t throw it any better than that

Slaughter replaced an injured Gaither at LT in the first quarter; Gaither came back in the game

Too many free blitzers at Flacco, Ravens must tighten up their pass protection versus pressure

Rookie DT Sims flashed again, Quickness and leverage and burst – Has the ability to be a quality starting DT

Another thing that stands out about the Ravens offense is the way they attack the whole field with their pass game, both horizontally and vertically; They take their deep shots every game, Force defenses to defend the entire field (the old Sid Gillman approach to pass offense) – Anyone who says arm strength is overrated is not watching the NFL very closely

Ravens with McClain and Neal in the backfield have a physical run game

Ravens offense becoming more and more complete with each passing week: A diverse run game that can both line up and hit you in the mouth, and also be effective from the shotgun with Rice, plus a multi-dimensional pass game that attacks all areas of the field – Flacco better and better each week

Clayton 33 yards on second quarter TD drive came against “cover zero” behind an all out blitz; Flacco looked down the gun barrel and got the ball down the field to Clayton on the go route

DL Ngata played TE on Heap’s 4 yard TD, He moved unbelievably well running a route

Ravens used their version of the “Wildcat” formation with Troy Smith in the shotgun – It will be interesting to see this develop over the last month since Smith can actually throw the ball

Clayton 70 yard TD came out of “22” personnel with the McClain / Neal backfield, Play action “max pro”; Clayton beat Hall within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage and made a great one-handed catch on the go route

Ravens an efficient and explosive offensive performance

VIKINGS OFFENSE VS. BEARS DEFENSE

Vikings ran 66 offensive plays, and controlled the ball for almost 34 minutes

Bears a lot of pre snap movement with their front, and that often includes S Brown, who will yoyo back and forth between the box and a deeper position – It’s difficult to identify who to block in the run game, and who’s coming in the pass game

Frerotte does not move well within the pocket; Does not show the ability to avoid, slide, reset and deliver – Because of this deficiency, Frerotte leaves plays on the field, either throwing the ball away or getting sacked

RG Herrera and RT Cooks are weak links on the Vikings OL – It’s an average OL, made significantly better by the ability of Peterson; They do not pass protect consistently

Frerotte struggled with consistent accuracy, Misses too many open receivers – Again, it’s why he’s been a career backup

Bears LB trio of Urlacher, Briggs and Roach played well versus the run; They jumped in and out of gaps and made it difficult for the Vikings OL to account for them

Frerotte a tendency to be a little slow with his processing of information, so the more the Bears did with pre snap movement, the more they created some indecision and hesitation in Frerotte after the snap – You can get Frerotte to play fast and frenetic

Peterson looks to me like a flash runner: When the opposing jersey color flashes in his vision, he cuts away from it, looking to find daylight – Tony Dorsett was a lot like that, but Peterson is a much more physical and violent runner; He looks like he’s running harder

Berrian 99 yard TD came out of balanced “12” personnel with Peterson the single back, Bears “cover 3” zone concept with single safety Payne cheating toward the field; CB Tillman was responsible for the vertical routes of both Shiancoe and Berrian, He saw Shiancoe break free down the seam and jumped the TE – Berrian ran the go route and Freroote made a perfect throw

RB Taylor very good out of the backfield as a receiver, particularly versus man coverage when he’s matched on a LB

Bears struggle in the secondary with coverage, They can’t match up man-to-man so they are forced to play predominantly zone schemes

WR Rice cannot run at all, He really struggles to separate from man coverage – Payne’s interception was a great example, Rice could not win vertically against nickel corner Manning

Bears front seven / eight (counting S Brown) was outstanding against the run in this game; Peterson had some unbelievable individual efforts and Taylor’s 21 yard TD was the only run in which they were beaten by scheme – They wore down a little in the fourth quarter, but overall it was a terrific effort by the Bears

Vikings offense remains inconsistent and week-to-week, especially when it comes to Frerotte